Devotional Reading: Matthew 20:20-28
The art of serving.
Wait a minute.... There is an art form to serving?
Wow, this is something I have to really think about! I know there are a myriad of art forms to painting a picture, to sculpting, to delicate embroidery and most every form of crafting there is. But to serving?
But what sort of serving aspires or inspires us to create an higher art form out of it - a Van Gogh or Picasso or Rembrandt of serving??? In our home, serving means serving a meal or a drink three times a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. I hardly believe that such simple things as these can rise to the level of the most amateur of art forms. I mean sometimes we use paper plates and plastic silverware. No masterpiece by any means you can think of. At Thanksgiving and Christmas we have guests for dinner and serve them dinner.
I can think of several different higher end restaurants me and Sharon have been to, even some of the finest ones we could afford, and the service has usually been at or well above standard. But hardly anything I would commission someone to put on canvas, sculpt out of marble or whatever other medium you can imagine. I would not even think of doing such a thing - probably would never even cross my mind to do it.
I recall our meal times on our honeymoon cruise. Four star dining rooms three times a day and one night a five star banquet on board the luxury liner. What an awesome experience. A fine dinner at a expensive, upscale restaurant yields a rich illustration of the meaning of service. With fine music playing in the background, You are escorted to your table and handed a menu of exotically named dishes you can't pronounce. Exotic foods, drinks, decadent desserts - you would never think of preparing in your kitchens. A waiter or waitress stands off to the side of a table. In formal white tie attire they wait off to the side of their tables, they are observing every move of every member of the dinner party. They are well practiced in their powers of observation.
They flawlessly take your orders, bring you your drinks. When a glass is half full, they are their to fill it back up. They prepare the meals to order and serve them on the finest dinner ware. When the last bite of food is taken off a plate, they remove the plate from the table and bring out the next course. A nearly seamless operation -- a fine tuned symphony of motion for the guests. When a diner gives even the slightest nuanced expression of need, the wait staff quickly discerns the need. They are highly trained to notice - and they seem to notice everything. They comeback frequently to your table to ask how things are. They pour refills of water, sodas, coffee with a big smile on their faces. If anything is not right, they are bending over backwards to make things right. They take their service very seriously and work quite passionately. In this way, I scrumptiously witnessed the art of service rising to the levels of a Van Gogh or Picasso painting.
That is the posture of a Christian who is called to be a living sacrifice for the Lord. We are to be "noticers." We are to be highly trained in interpreting the sign's of the Spirit's work, and we are to step into the picture at every slight prompting. Like the waiter or the waitresses, we are content to stand in the background, completely and intentionally unnoticed, blending in so we we will not interrupt the evenings natural course.
But when our services are required, we are to step momentarily into the picture - unobtrusively and only for a specific purpose. We are assigned to only one table for the entire evening. We exist for its pleasure.
That's a far cry from the lives of most Christians. We want to serve the Lord and our neighbors, but all too often we have our own agendas. Some of us do not stand in the background very easily, and others of us do not know when to step out of them. We can discern and react to the subtle signals of our spouses, a child's health, a bosses expectations, a rough-running car engine or an aging appliance, but we are clueless when it comes to the subtle working of God. Sometimes, we just learn too slow or tragically, not at all.
Like the wait staff aboard the cruise ship, we need to be highly trained and have the high desire to work. We need to enjoy the art of service - AND IT IS INDEED AN ART FORM -- beautifully and delicately preformed. We need to derive our pleasure not from seeing the items of our own personal agendas checked off, but from our quick, decisive, yet unobtrusive roles as one's who meet the needs of others. It is our calling, and according to Jesus, it is the way to greatness. We live to serve our God and all of our neighbors and each other. So ... this Thanksgiving and Christmas season be the best servants you can be. Many will be blessed.
God Bless
Friday, November 18, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Delays ...... Delays ...... Delays ...... Wait for it ...... Wait for it ...... Ok, I'll get to it tomorrow ...... Maybe
Devotional Reading: Matthew 25: 1-13 - Parable of the Ten Virgins
My wife Sharon will be glad to tell you that I am bad at putting things off. It is not that I mean to do it, but, it just ends up happening that way. I will put things off to the last minute. I will keep promising to clean off the porch, pick up my dirty clothes, clean up my office. The list goes on and on. Without due dates or ultimatums, things wouldn't get done. Why are there delays? Good question:
1. Because we can not or do not create a sense of urgency.
2. Because it is just not very high on our priority list.
3. Because (and I hate to admit this) we just get lazy about it.
Being prepared is one of the most important things we can be. We make all sorts of preparations to do all sorts of things in this life and preparing in advance makes things allot easier and removes allot of the consequences - which I lovingly call 'frying pan moments' which my wife will not so occasionally remind me of by dropping a hint or two.
My latest effort at delays began about a year before we were married - May 2010 - when I promised her that I would clean up and clean out the room she wanted for her crafting. I promised her that I would clean out all my bachelor stuff - That took almost a year to do. Then after we were married, I promised I would bring her stuff over from her previous residence - that is still ongoing (moan). But thanks be to God for birthdays. And for her birthday present, I finally called in a handyman and had the room fixed up. I went to Home Depot and got all kinds of paint pallets for her to choose from. She selected her choice of colors and this past Saturday, we spent our time taping the room off. Now the next step is to actually go up there and paint the room as and when she always wanted it.
Sometimes in life we live for the deadline, and don’t take advantage of the present time. How many of you have had teachers who told you this assignment is due in three weeks so start working on it now? You spent the first week saying, ’I still have two weeks to get it done’. You spent the second week saying, "next week, I’m really going to get started." You then spent the day before the assignment due cramming at the library, furiously searching the internet for resources; working at lightning speed to get it done, complaining every step of the way that the teacher gave you too much work to do and did not give you nearly enough time to do it the way they wanted it. UGGGHHH
There is a danger in living for the deadline. The danger is, we don’t know what is going to happen in our lives between now and the deadline. We deceive ourselves into thinking we are smarter than we truly are. We want to think we can control the future - ours and everybody else's, but we can’t - and the frustration mounts up.
When you were a kid, did your mother ever leave on a Saturday and tell you, "I want this house completely cleaned when I get back." You intended to clean the house, but there was something you wanted to watch or some game you wanted to play, or somebody you wanted to talk to on the phone, so you did those things instead. But Daddy comes home first -- surveys the condition of the house -- Hand on hips he stares at you -- What did Momma tell you to do? As we waited till the last minute for momma to show before we got started - Daddy surprised us.
From our devotional reading - ten bridesmaids waited for the groom to gather up his bride.The text tells us that the groom was a long time in coming and the bridesmaids fell asleep because they became drowsy. For whatever reason, the five unwise ladies didn’t bring sufficient oil for their lamps. Perhaps they thought they would have enough time to buy more or that the others would share with them. But they waited until the last minute when the groom showed up at the last minute to take care of business. They were unprepared. They did not use their time wisely to be sure that all was in readiness. Prior Planning Prevents Pretty Poor last minute Performances.
These bridesmaids became tired, maybe time got away from them, maybe they fully intended on sometime going and getting the oil they needed for their lamps. I want to tell you that good intentions do not equal good actions. There are many people in the world who have good intentions, and you know that they say road paved with good intentions leads to, don’t you? I would be willing to bet that these bridesmaids were great people, probably great friends who were excited about the wedding; they just waited until the last minute. Perhaps they thought they had more time to fix their slight problem. This is a valuable lesson that we can take to heart and learn; we are not of assured more time before Jesus’ return. Many people are living the way that they are because they are sure they
have more time. They will change their actions later because they have plenty of time to make it right. They will be more faithful at another time; they will be more generous at some other point. Time is the one commodity we are not guaranteed. The real tragedy of this parable is the tragedy of being unprepared for something important.
We have to be prepared at all time to meet our Lord, and if we do not make those preparations we have to be willing to face the consequences of not doing what we were supposed to. The thing is that we are not left in the dark about what we are supposed to do, in fact most people know right from wrong, and know what God expects of them, but they don’t because they feel time is a luxury. Today, if you are delaying in making preparations for Jesus’ return than I want to tell you that you need to make those preparations. Keep your lamps filled with faith, hope and love.
I wonder what went through those five girls heads when they heard the shouting that the bridegroom has come. It probably wasn’t total thrill and excitement. It was probably a, “what are we going to do”, deer caught in the headlights moment. They realized that the time had come and they hadn’t prepared and they were not ready. It was too late; there was nothing they could do. When they tried to fulfill their duties - they were turned away!!!
Perhaps the five unwise virgins thought that their preparation really didn’t matter. We know that they thought they could just make it by anyways even though they were unprepared. Perhaps the 5 unwise virgins thought they really wouldn’t be forbidden to enter the wedding just because they forgot a little oil for their lamps. Many people live their lives like that, they feel that God will overlook the details of their lives -or they may feel that they will be alright because they are good people, but it just doesn’t work that way. I just got married 18 months ago and I can tell you the importance of getting the details right. The wedding is more inspirational to more than just the couple being married. Long term Preparation makes a difference. Planning the Details make the difference. For when you get married, Your memories will make the difference in the lives you will both live together.
God Bless
My wife Sharon will be glad to tell you that I am bad at putting things off. It is not that I mean to do it, but, it just ends up happening that way. I will put things off to the last minute. I will keep promising to clean off the porch, pick up my dirty clothes, clean up my office. The list goes on and on. Without due dates or ultimatums, things wouldn't get done. Why are there delays? Good question:
1. Because we can not or do not create a sense of urgency.
2. Because it is just not very high on our priority list.
3. Because (and I hate to admit this) we just get lazy about it.
Being prepared is one of the most important things we can be. We make all sorts of preparations to do all sorts of things in this life and preparing in advance makes things allot easier and removes allot of the consequences - which I lovingly call 'frying pan moments' which my wife will not so occasionally remind me of by dropping a hint or two.
My latest effort at delays began about a year before we were married - May 2010 - when I promised her that I would clean up and clean out the room she wanted for her crafting. I promised her that I would clean out all my bachelor stuff - That took almost a year to do. Then after we were married, I promised I would bring her stuff over from her previous residence - that is still ongoing (moan). But thanks be to God for birthdays. And for her birthday present, I finally called in a handyman and had the room fixed up. I went to Home Depot and got all kinds of paint pallets for her to choose from. She selected her choice of colors and this past Saturday, we spent our time taping the room off. Now the next step is to actually go up there and paint the room as and when she always wanted it.
Sometimes in life we live for the deadline, and don’t take advantage of the present time. How many of you have had teachers who told you this assignment is due in three weeks so start working on it now? You spent the first week saying, ’I still have two weeks to get it done’. You spent the second week saying, "next week, I’m really going to get started." You then spent the day before the assignment due cramming at the library, furiously searching the internet for resources; working at lightning speed to get it done, complaining every step of the way that the teacher gave you too much work to do and did not give you nearly enough time to do it the way they wanted it. UGGGHHH
There is a danger in living for the deadline. The danger is, we don’t know what is going to happen in our lives between now and the deadline. We deceive ourselves into thinking we are smarter than we truly are. We want to think we can control the future - ours and everybody else's, but we can’t - and the frustration mounts up.
When you were a kid, did your mother ever leave on a Saturday and tell you, "I want this house completely cleaned when I get back." You intended to clean the house, but there was something you wanted to watch or some game you wanted to play, or somebody you wanted to talk to on the phone, so you did those things instead. But Daddy comes home first -- surveys the condition of the house -- Hand on hips he stares at you -- What did Momma tell you to do? As we waited till the last minute for momma to show before we got started - Daddy surprised us.
From our devotional reading - ten bridesmaids waited for the groom to gather up his bride.The text tells us that the groom was a long time in coming and the bridesmaids fell asleep because they became drowsy. For whatever reason, the five unwise ladies didn’t bring sufficient oil for their lamps. Perhaps they thought they would have enough time to buy more or that the others would share with them. But they waited until the last minute when the groom showed up at the last minute to take care of business. They were unprepared. They did not use their time wisely to be sure that all was in readiness. Prior Planning Prevents Pretty Poor last minute Performances.
have more time. They will change their actions later because they have plenty of time to make it right. They will be more faithful at another time; they will be more generous at some other point. Time is the one commodity we are not guaranteed. The real tragedy of this parable is the tragedy of being unprepared for something important.
We have to be prepared at all time to meet our Lord, and if we do not make those preparations we have to be willing to face the consequences of not doing what we were supposed to. The thing is that we are not left in the dark about what we are supposed to do, in fact most people know right from wrong, and know what God expects of them, but they don’t because they feel time is a luxury. Today, if you are delaying in making preparations for Jesus’ return than I want to tell you that you need to make those preparations. Keep your lamps filled with faith, hope and love.
I wonder what went through those five girls heads when they heard the shouting that the bridegroom has come. It probably wasn’t total thrill and excitement. It was probably a, “what are we going to do”, deer caught in the headlights moment. They realized that the time had come and they hadn’t prepared and they were not ready. It was too late; there was nothing they could do. When they tried to fulfill their duties - they were turned away!!!
Perhaps the five unwise virgins thought that their preparation really didn’t matter. We know that they thought they could just make it by anyways even though they were unprepared. Perhaps the 5 unwise virgins thought they really wouldn’t be forbidden to enter the wedding just because they forgot a little oil for their lamps. Many people live their lives like that, they feel that God will overlook the details of their lives -or they may feel that they will be alright because they are good people, but it just doesn’t work that way. I just got married 18 months ago and I can tell you the importance of getting the details right. The wedding is more inspirational to more than just the couple being married. Long term Preparation makes a difference. Planning the Details make the difference. For when you get married, Your memories will make the difference in the lives you will both live together.
God Bless
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